Le dernier sacre

It’s been seven years since La Hire, one of the two artists behind Aries from France, contacted me for the first time about their first release, the EP of 2015 ‘D’ombres et de flammes’. So, after seven years of silence, La Hire contacted me again some time ago about their new release. The new release is a full length album, released independently in digital form by the band and in limited to 500 copies cd format, co-released by Epictural Production and Acid Vicious. So, the name of the album is ‘Le dernier sacre’ and it contains seven songs of about forty five minutes of duration. The first thing that caught my attention was the impressive cover. This is the recreation of a part of the original painting of François Gérard, ‘Le sacre de Charles X’. Something else that I noticed by having a look inside the booklet, was the mention of Léon Rameau. I didn’t find any info, but I guess he is a French poet. All these references show that the band is interested in various manifestations of art and want to give the listener a push to start searching.

Aries plays a riff – driven, melancholic, romantic and sometimes epic Black Metal, with a lot of variation regarding the tempo but also the riffing style and the feelings that they present. Their style is very interesting as they combine the elegance, similar to the elegance expressed in their cover, with the harsh and ugly Black Metal sound. Of course the style is very interesting but for sure it can’t do anything by itself. The riffs with their variety, other times groovy, other times epic, other times melodic or hateful fast, complete the whole sound canvas and offer a memorable and very enjoyable result. The songs’ duration is almost the same for each one, about six – seven minutes, and their structure has no surprises as it follows a standard pattern with verses, passages, bridges and choruses, making the tracks easy to listen to. The lyrics are included in the eight page booklet and they are all written in French, I am not sure what they are about, so I won’t make any assumptions.

Regarding the performance of the band and the sound of the recording, everything is very professional. Léandre is responsible for the drums and his performance is very stable and powerful, while their lines are simple and minimal, allowing the riffs to shine. The rest of the instruments and vocals are performed by La Hire. The guitars are the most important instruments for their compositions as they are the ones that set the scenery and paint the various sentiments that the band want to express. The bass is present, audible and its lines are interesting as it supports the compositions very well and gives depth to the sound. The vocals are special, harsh whispering Black Metal ones reminiscent of Emperor, they have a lot of passion and add a mysterious and eerie feeling to the compositions. The production is clean and the sound is quite flat in some parts. Generally, I think the compositions would benefit a lot if they had more depth and a little bassier sound. The mixture is balanced highlighting the guitars and the result is very good.

In conclusion, seven years of silence are a lot, especially for a new band. However, Aries managed to overcome the difficulties, work on their ideas and finally release a very nice album. The album has very interesting moments and I liked the progress from one track to the next, though if i had to pick my three favorites, Vie et mort de Saint Jean le Baptiste, À l’océan qui nous sépare and Le dernier sacre. Those of you who have listened to the previous EP and liked it, you will for sure be excited with this one. However, I believe that this is one of those albums that can be appreciated by everyone who is into Black Metal.